Tag: Solomon

Wisdom for Men

On By Ed AlgreenIn A Lamp unto My Path, Adoration, Answered Prayer, Appreciation, Awesome God, Beyond Description, Blessing, Celebrate God, Needs, Praise, Praise-worthy, Recognize God, Wisdom, WorshipLeave a comment

DATE POSTED: Sunday, 2023-05-14
WRITTEN AT: O’Brien, FL
PODCAST: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/edward-algreen/episodes/Wisdom-for-Men-e241plm

SCRIPTURE FROM: Proverbs 5:1-4
TRANSLATION: Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)

BIBLE TEXT: Son, listen to this piece of wisdom from me. Pay attention to what I know to be true. Remember to live wisely, and what you learn will keep your lips from saying the wrong thing. Now, another man’s wife might be very charming, and the words from her lips so sweet and inviting. But in the end, she will bring only bitterness and pain. It will be like bitter poison and a sharp sword.

OBSERVATION: For obtaining great fishing advice, one might run to the most successful and long-term fishermen that they know, and not to the casual weekend beach lubber living next door. When listening to a banker explaining the best way to take advantage of the best banking options, one interested in saving or investing money will tend to draw closer to them to not miss a word of advice being given, instead of listening to the drunk at the local pub who tries to tell you how to save or invest. Solomon had a record 1000 wives and concubines, so can’t you imagine that the words of wisdom shared in our Bible verses today really got the attention of his sons? These words of wisdom were carefully chosen to share with men throughout the ages, don’t you think that we should draw close to God while meditating on these wise words of Solomon?

APPLICATION: Surely Solomon, with so many wives and concubines, saw massive opportunities to share his wisdom learned over the years. But being a man of God, Solomon was led to not only share his advice with his sons, but to share this with all other men who are tempted into unpleasant, illegitimate, and/or sinful relationships. I believe we must realize that gaining great advice and/or permitting change in our lives, is more than having a good mentor or example. We all have our own sense of reasoning and a free will to accept good advice or reject it. As a father myself, I have learned that all we can do is to share advice and personal experiences with our children, but they are the ultimate ones who will decide to accept or reject the advice. Let’s be honest, there are some parts of our lives that we would prefer not seeing repeated, for we now realize that we had fallen away from God and allowed Satan to promote his evil ways in and through us at certain times. But the difference is, that in our example before us today, God is saying like many Facebook users say, ‘Do this‘! For you see, God used a worthy and acceptable individual in the sight of God to share this valuable information. Think about it, Solomon was the son of David, who was a man after God’s own heart; Solomon determined in himself to be obedient to God and His perfect will; Solomon was known throughout his kingdom as a very rich and wise king, and who wouldn’t want to learn as much as they could from a known wise man? Solomon was a loving man, and as such, he wanted the very best for his beloved sons. In fact, Solomon imitates our God in many ways. For God so love the world that He not only gave awesome advice personally and in written form to His children, but He also saw the need for us to have a clear understanding of what we must do to eventually wind up in heaven with Him. So God sent His Son Jesus into the world, and although Jesus made excellent use of His time while here on earth, yet God had a greater purpose in mind for Him and for us. For God to meet that purpose, He allowed Jesus to be captured, sentenced by an earthly king, humiliated in the streets and crucified on a cruel cross. Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for the sin of all who would believe on Him and accept His sacrifice. But God ensured that His Son would not remain in a tomb, because mankind would hesitate even more in serving a Savior who is dead. So after just three days in the tomb, God raised His Son from the dead – glory to God in the highest heavens! So the wisdom in all that Solomon shared with his sons, sounds amazing and so very helpful, but to think of a Savior who did even more than this for us, is beyond anything we could think, imagine or comprehend. Our wise God loves you dear friend, and He would like nothing better than to share His love and wisdom with you, for the best life you can imagine and enjoy here on earth. Give Him a chance to do this, won’t you?

BLESSING(S) NOTED: Live wisely and enjoy life under the plans and direction of your loving God!

PRAYER: Lord, I can’t imagine what good I could ever do to deserve the sacrifice made by Your own, precious Son. Solomon gave very wise advice to his sons, some of which are included in Your precious Word. But Your Word is filled with the wisdom You shared with us to enjoy life at its fullest. Please forgive us for showing our ungratefulness more often than our deepest appreciation for You and all mankind. Oh that we may look to You for all things precious Lord. With so many unanswered questions in life, may we be consistent in looking to You for the wisdom we need to live according to Your will. Open our eyes precious Lord, so we may see You in All of Your glory! AMEN!

FOOTNOTE: There are two more pages on my blog that will provide you with additional information, one of them being ‘To Know Jesus’. If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please click on the above page, or speak with a local Bible Teaching Pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com. Please allow someone to pray with you and give you help and/or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Words underlined in my blog might indicate a link to a song that came to mind as I wrote the devotional. Feel free to click on the link and listen as you continue to read or pray. If this devotional was forwarded to you and you would like to see more, please go to Nuggets From God’s Word and read more, or you may freely subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day’s devotional. You may also visit me on Spotify and listen to Nuggets while you’re out and about. I would encourage you to find a church home near by your home, and attend as frequently as you could. Get to know God, and allow His people to encourage and strengthen you in your Christian walk, while making every effort to be a blessing to them. God is at work among His people! Please consider growing in your faith, as you worship with fellow believers!

Why Is The Lord Blessing you?

On By Ed AlgreenIn Answered Prayer, Appreciation, Blessing, Needs, Praise, Recognize God, Worship1 Comment

DATE POSTED Tuesday, 2022-10-18
WRITTEN AT: Okeechobee, FL

SCRIPTURE FROM: 1 Kings 10:6-7; 9
TRANSLATION: Living Bible (TLB)

BIBLE TEXT: 6 She exclaimed to him, “Everything I heard in my own country about your wisdom and about the wonderful things going on here is all true. 7 I didn’t believe it until I came, but now I have seen it for myself! And really! The half had not been told me! Your wisdom and prosperity are far greater than anything I’ve ever heard of! 
9 Blessed be the Lord your God who chose you and set you on the throne of Israel. How the Lord must love Israel—for he gave you to them as their king! And you give your people a just, good government!”

APPLICATION: Queen Sheba heard of all the good things happening to King Solomon and how successful his reign was. However, she didn’t look for ways to seek to harm him or pull him down so that she might look greater than he was. Instead, she chose to go a see for herself, perhaps hoping that Solomon could give her a few words of good advice. But the main thing I appreciated about her visit, can be found in our focal verses. Notice that the queen probably didn’t find the king gloating in his riches, or too busy trying to hoard additional riches, but instead her eyes were opened to the fact that God didn’t just bless the king to be the richest king in all the world, as he was, but that God wanted His chosen people, who Solomon reigned over, to have the best. That made me think about life today. We visit a church today and we immediately think of the rich folk that must attend church there, because it is evident that the leadership spared no expense in erecting the best building and filling it with nothing but the best in fixtures and material goods. If visiting from a small, average income community, we may feel intimidated by all the lush furnishings, the lavish outfitting of all rooms, etc. But what if we did like Sheba and met with the leadership of that church, do you suppose that we may find out that perhaps God does have a purpose in providing the very best for that community? Friends, I believe that when unbelievers are used to going to the lavish stores, restaurants, and theaters in their community, and we invite them to come and worship with us in a dilapidated building where we meet for church, might they not resort to picturing God as one who does nothing to help His people who meet in His name to worship Him? I visited a Christian-based theme park once, and I was almost thrown off by the lavish gold, or gold-plated bathroom fixtures, the outstanding costumes worn by the actors and the buildings erected. But then, it was like God spoke to me and asked, ‘why not?’. If we visited a worldly king, like Sheba did, and found old, outdated buildings and fixtures, we would think that country must be in bad shape financially and about to fold. So, as we think of a place that we meet with the King of all kings, the God of this whole universe, shouldn’t we expect to meet His royalty in a place fit for a King? Surely, we don’t want to be embarrassed if an earthly king entered our sanctuary. How much more should we want to be proud of opening the doors for our heavenly King? Queen Sheba was convinced that God was blessing King Solomon because of His love for the people that he served, protected and judged. Should we expect anything less today? We must get our sights off self and everything we could do, and instead set our sights on meeting the needs of our community as we introduce them to the Great I Am. Construction is super expensive today, so let me encourage you to give from the very bottom of your heart as you seek to do your part, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to minister to your respective communities. They need the Lord, perhaps worse than anyone sitting in your church on a regular basis.

BLESSING(S) NOTED: We will often look inward for reasons why God should bless or has been blessing our efforts. But I was reminded that God has a much bigger picture in mind when He blesses His church. There’s a community of unchurched people out there that are in desperate need of a Savior.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, I was reminded that Your ways are much greater than our ways, and that Your purpose is always to win the heart of Your people – even those who we may feel are not worth our time. We may boast of our multimillion-dollar church buildings, but Lord, I pray that You would open our eyes so that we may catch a glimpse of the souls that will be touched in our community through the services from these church buildings. Please help us to realize very early in life many of the things that we claim as ours, are actually designed for Your glory and to benefit Your Kingdom. Teach us Lord to not claim ownership of anything that we dedicate to You. Solomon spent many years building the temple, but in the end, He surrendered it all for your service only. May we learn to do the same Lord, for only what’s don’t for Jesus will last and have eternal benefit. Be glorified Lord in everything that we do, and in anything that we take part in, so that others may see Jesus and be filled with Your glory for all eternity. AMEN!

FOOTNOTE: There are two more pages on my blog that will provide you with additional information, one of them being ‘To Know Jesus’. If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please click on the above page, or speak with a local Bible Teaching Pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com. Please allow someone to pray with you and give you help and/or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Words underlined in my blog might indicate a link to a song that came to mind as I wrote the devotional. Feel free to click on the link and listen as you continue to read or pray. If this devotional was forwarded to you and you would like to see more, please go to Nuggets From God’s Word and read more, or you may freely subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day’s devotional. You may also visit me on Spotify and listen to Nuggets while you’re out and about. I would encourage you to find a church home near by your home, and attend as frequently as you could. Get to know God, and allow His people to encourage and strengthen you in your Christian walk, while making every effort to be a blessing to them. God is at work among His people! Please consider growing in your faith, as you worship with fellow believers!

The Lord Has Chosen You To…

On By Ed AlgreenIn Chosen by God, God's Will, Listen, Listen to the Word of God, ObedientLeave a comment

Tuesday, 2020-02-18

Bible Reference: 1 Chronicles 28:9-10
Translation: The Amplified Version (AMP)

Bible Text: “As for you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father [have personal knowledge of Him, be acquainted with, and understand Him; appreciate, heed, and cherish Him] and serve Him with a blameless heart and a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts and minds, and understands every intent and inclination of the thoughts. If you seek Him [inquiring for and of Him and requiring Him as your first and vital necessity] He will let you find Him; but if you abandon (turn away from) Him, He will reject you forever. Consider this carefully, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary. Be courageous and strong and do it.”

OBSERVATION: In verse 10, particularly the words bolded above, you will see that David shared with his son Solomon that his lecture outlined in the preceding verses, was to draw his attention to the important task assigned to him by God – to build a temple. For many who will read this devotional, I believe that God is knocking on your heart to do a certain work for Him. Are you prepared spiritually and relationally with God to do His work? Think about this as we delve into these verses today dear friend.

APPLICATION: David had continued the rule of his ancestors and did a fine job, with the help of God. Wouldn’t you tend to think that any of his sons would be well trained and suitable for the ongoing job as king of Israel? David had already began the awesome job of gathering supplies for the construction of the temple, so wouldn’t you think that either of his sons would be great for taking charge of the actual construction? This all makes sense to us, because this is the way that we generally make decisions today. We want the most recognized men in society on our boards and we want them to be prominent leaders in our churches. Would that be because they are the most godly and best ‘called’ men in our churches? What if we asked our church leaders today to take a month or two and consider all that David outlined in verse 9, before telling us if they feel called to the position we want them to fill? But this study is not intended to be a pick on church leadership. I feel like God spoke to me and had me consider how I might be doing with Him, based on verse 9. I wanted to share this with my readers, because I believe that God might be speaking to you about filling some of the vacant positions in His church. Are you prepared? Do you have personal knowledge of the Master? Are you personally acquainted with Him? Do you understand Him, appreciate Him, heed to His commands, and cherish Him with all your heart? Do you serve Him with a blameless heart and a willing mind, knowing that the Lord searches all hearts and minds, and understands every intent and inclination of our thoughts? Let’s all remember, that if we seek Him, by inquiring of Him, and requiring Him to be our first and vital necessity, He will let us find Him; but if we abandon, or turn away from Him, He will reject us forever. Solomon made an awesome king and was blessed immensely by God, so David’s advice paid off and encouraged his son in his relationship with God. Don’t you know that our churches will also be blessed beyond our understanding if we also followed this wise advice from David? God placed it in His special Book of Instructions just for us, because He wanted us to take note and follow in the footsteps of His servant Solomon. I pray that God’s Word will guide our every step today. Consider this carefully, for the Lord has chosen you to …… – what might He have chosen you to do, dear friend?

PRAYER: In the name of the Father, and in the name of the Son, Lord we come. We come asking for your people to receive Your Word, and to follow, as instructed, here on earth so that Your work might be accomplished in Your way and for Your glory. Lord, please help us not to allow this evil world to sneak into Your holy work in Your holy institution because of our lack of knowledge and commitment to You. Lord, we want Your work to continue in our midst. Please help us to not be stumbling blocks of that great work. We want to be just like You, Lord. May we seek Your will and follow Your commands, while allowing Your Holy Spirit to have His way in our lives. AMEN!

FOOTNOTE: There are two more pages on my blog that will provide you with additional information, one of them being ‘To Know Jesus’. If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please click on the above page, or speak with a local Bible Teaching Pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com. Please allow someone to pray with you and give you help and/or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Words underlined in my blog might indicate a link to a song that came to mind as I wrote the devotional. Feel free to click on the link and listen as you continue to read or pray. If this devotional was forwarded to you and you would like to see more, please go to Nuggets From God’s Word and read more, or you may freely subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day’s devotional. If you are anywhere near the Sebring, Florida area and do not have a church home, I would encourage you to attend my home church. Bible Fellowship Church, located at 3750 Hammock Rd, Sebring, FL 33872! Click the link to check out service times and/or other special activities. God is at work among us! Please consider coming to worship with us!